Renaming the Cabinet

A few days ago, Der Furor mused that he intended to change the name of the Department of Defense back to its original, pre-1947 name, "Department of War." His rationale was that "it had a stronger sound." This is, of course, important to a weak man posturing as a strong one.

But why stop with just DoD? Why not rename all the other cabinet departments, too? I think these would be names more appealing to the MAGA mentality ... 

The Department of Agriculture becomes The Department of Buying off Farmers After Crashing Their Markets;

The Department of Commerce becomes The Department of Tariffs as the Cure for Everything;

What's left of The Department of Education becomes The Department of Revisionist History;

The Department of Energy becomes The Department of Drill, Baby, Drill;

The Department of Health and Human Services becomes The Department of Quit Whining and Die, Already; 

The Department of Homeland Security becomes The Department of Eliminating Immigration and Ensuring White Supremacy Through the Deportation of Undesirables and Support of Militias; 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development becomes The Department of Support to the Mortgage Industry;

The Department of the Interior becomes The Department of Monetizing Useless National Parks; 

The Department of Justice becomes The Department of Retribution and Political Loyalty Enforcement;

The Department of Labor becomes the Department of Keeping the Workforce in Its Place;

The Department of State becomes The Department of Russia Good, China Bad; 

The Department of Transportation becomes The Department of Ensuring Dominance of Fossil-Fueled Vehicles; 

The Department of the Treasury becomes The President's Personal Account; and 

The Department of Veteran Affairs becomes The Department of Get Homeless and Disabled Veterans Out of Sight.

I was feeling pretty angry when I wrote this. Does it show?

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

"Housing Crisis"

 

I bought my first house in 1983. It was a three-bedroom, four-bath (two full baths, two powder rooms), three-level, end unit townhouse in Northern Virginia, and it cost $68,200. I sold it three years later for about $120,000. According to Zillow.com, that house today is worth $500,100. A new townhouse development not far from our home is advertising homes "from the $800s*."

Riddle me this, Batman: if you are a low- to middle-income wage earner, whether single or with a family, how do you afford a home at these prices ... which, of course, do not include insurance, utilities, or taxes (all quite high in many areas)? And, having paid for all that, how do you afford other frivolous things like food, clothing, medical care?

We do not have a "housing crisis" ... we have a housing affordability crisis. 

There are many reasons for this, including:

1. Inflation, aka "Greed." See my earlier blog post on the topic.

2. Purchase of multiple homes by wealthy investors and used as rental properties, and the calculated deflection of responsibility for the cost increases.

3. Overconstruction of huge, expensive "McMansions" marketed to more affluent purchasers, at the expense of smaller, less expensive homes affordable for couples or small families with lower incomes.

4. Wages that do not allow workers to afford adequate housing

That the nation has a serious shortage of affordable housing is reflected in the problem of homelessness that plagues our cities. Der Furor - offended by the presence of homeless persons and homeless encampments in Washington, DC - has deployed an alphabet soup of federal law enforcement agencies and National Guard forces from multiple states to the streets of the capital to remove unfortunate persons who often have nowhere else to go. Out of sight, out of mind.

The presence of homeless persons on our streets is a scandal unworthy of a great nation. A real president, rather than an incompetent, posturing, authoritarian buffoon, would address the causes of homelessness - among them the outrageous cost of housing, zoning rules that prevent the construction of the types of housing most needed, and a lack of mental-health support for those in need, especially homeless veterans - rather than its symptoms.   

Simply publishing more royal decrees executive orders** won't solve the problem. Only action to address the root causes will. But don't expect it from this administration.

Have a good day. If you are fortunate enough to afford a place to live, enjoy it ... too many of your fellow citizens are not so lucky.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Realtors and developers are reluctant to actually say "Eight hundred thousand dollars and up."

** Executive Order 14321, "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets," is not a substitute for effective, broad-based action, but it sounds good to the MAGAts.

Musical Sunday

Chances are that you've never heard of the Swiss singer Erkan Aki. I hadn't, until I heard this song played for a slow waltz heat at a dance competition, and I was struck by the power and beauty of his voice. I think this is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard ...

Here are the lyrics:

I've gone many ways

Just to see who I am

Been stranded in faith 

There were moments

But through your eyes I can see

That as long as I believe

I'll know that I'm still me

You touched me and saw

There were times I was weak

You turned every fault

Into fortune

'cause through your eyes I can see

That as long as I believe

I'll know that I'm still me

And if my dreams have all been shattered

If my will is pale from battle

Your love gives me hope and meaning

Like a breath of spring

The will to survive

Can be distant at times

But I'll stay alive for tomorrow

'cause through your eyes I can see

That as long as I believe

I'll know that I'm still me

Yes through your eyes I can see

That as long as I believe 

I'll know that I'm still me

I'm still me, too. Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Oy, vey ...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use part of its huge budget to buy, own and operate its own fleet of airplanes, which would be costly but could allow the agency potentially to double the number of people it deports each month; in the final stage of sycophancy to Der Furor*, the FBI raided the home and office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton; a new report, denied by Israel, claims that famine has broken out in Gaza; the Food and Drug Administration (or, at least, as much of it as Der Furor has decided to retain) has issued a warning about frozen shrimp that may be radioactive; and a British woman has complained that the UK has "too many foreigners" ... from her new home in Spain.

This week, in honor of an administration that keeps giving us the bird, a collection of cartoons about birds. 

I'd do the same ...

When the crows' party just isn't going well ...

Can you guess? 

Uh, oh ...

Not to mention that she might explode ...

When married birds settle down ...

Birds on the make ...

Interim reply by pigeon ...

Priorities ...

I can see where this might be unsettling ...

Now that I've given you the bird(s), it's time to move on to the rest of the weekend. Have a good day, have fun, and remember to keep an eye on what the government is doing in your name.

More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday returns.

Bilbo

* Mr Bolton probably saw it coming ...

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for August, 2025

Friends, I'm tired. I'm tired not just because I'm getting old and rickety, but because I'm sick of the news, sick of the state of the nation, and sick of the "leaders" we elect and those they appoint, even though they are utterly useless.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, with sorrow for the state of the nation, I give you*

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for August, 2025

to 

Nick "alpha male" Adams

In an era of comical, testosterone-fueled wannabe manhood, Nick Adams, the self-described and relentlessly self-promoted "alpha male," stands head and shoulders above other sad excuses for masculine supremacy. His over-the-top Twitter** feed, slavishly cartoonish adoration of Der Furor, resolute promotion of Hooters, and ludicrous public statements on relations between the sexes show a man best described by one observer as "ostentatiously buffoonish," presenting himself as a paragon of masculine virtue while demonstrating a complete lack of empathy, manners, education, and - indeed - sex appeal***. 

And yet, despite his ridiculous behavior and complete lack of qualifications for any position of public trust and confidence, Der Furor has seen fit to nominate him as the nation's ambassador to Malaysia. Aside from the questionable wisdom of appointing a full-throated supporter of Israel as the ambassador to the world's most populous Muslim nation, one notes that he has been appointed to replace an experienced career diplomat ... the sort of person unwelcome in Der Furor's amateurish approach to international relations.

As I noted in my blog post on the topic of alpha males (linked earlier in this post),

"When men refer to themselves as "alpha males," I hear that in the context of software, where alpha versions are unstable, missing important features, filled with flaws, and not fit for the public."

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, self-described "alpha male" Nick Adams - now positioned for a job as the official representative of the United States to a major Asian nation - is our Left-Cheek Ass Clown for August, 2025, and a sterling example of the sad deterioration of the once-great nation bequeathed to us by the Founders.

Have a good day, and expect better from your national "leadership," unlikely though you may be to receive it. I'll see you tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

* And please, gawd, take him!

** I refuse to call it "X."

*** I'm sure there are some misguided female MAGAts who can admire his neo-caveman persona, but I doubt that there are many who would appeal to most actual men.

Lawfare

You've probably heard the term lawfare, defined as "(noun) 1. the strategic use of legal proceedings to intimidate or hinder an opponent; 2. the use of the law by a country against its enemies, esp by challenging the legality of military or foreign policy." It is also the name of a popular website presenting essays on the use of law for political, military, and policy purposes. 

Lawfare is indeed a thing, and it's being used every day by a government weaponized against its citizens by a president and a party that used to complain bitterly about a government they believed was weaponized against them, simply because they chose to ignore inconvenient laws. 

In a representative democracy, the sort that we used to have, laws exist to protect the rights of the citizens and provide a stable legal environment in which business can flourish. But the law by itself is the proverbial double-edged sword: it tells us what we are allowed to do, but it does not tell us what we should do.

Consider the rush in Texas to conduct an out-of-constitutional-cycle gerrymander of congressional districts to favor Republican candidates. This blatant attempt to cement a congressional Republican majority had a predictable tit-for-tat result, with populous (and solidly blue) California threatening to gerrymander its own districts if Texas does so, in order to ensure perpetual Democratic seats and cancel out the Republican advantage. 

The Supreme Court has ruled (Rucho v Common Cause, 18-422, June 27, 2019) that gerrymandering for political advantage is legal ... odious and undemocratic, perhaps, but nevertheless legal. Considered in light of the actions of Texas and California, it demonstrates lawfare at both the state and the federal level. And I would argue that lawfare is what is replacing the rule of law that once made America unique.

The words "Equal Justice Under Law" are engraved over the entrance to the Supreme Court ...

... and yet we see that justice is hardly equal. As an example, look at the case of the man recently arrested and charged with felony assault for throwing a sandwich* at a Customs and Border Patrol agent last week. A federal judge permitted assault charges to be filed after a local judge declined to press charges; the man is currently free on bail and faces up to eight years in prison. You may recall that Der Furor has pardoned and lionized dozens of individuals who vandalized the Capitol, savagely beat police officers (with an American flag on a pole, no less), and attempted to overthrow the results of the 2024 election in the January 6th riot.

Who's weaponizing the government against whom?

Der Furor is the most litigious president in our history. He has spent his entire career using the law as a weapon, deploying battalions of lawyers to tie up his opponents in costly and time-consuming litigation, the goal of which is often less to win than to financially ruin his targets. He recently sued the Wall Street Journal for a staggering $10 billion dollars over the newspaper's report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Jeffrey Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared. He has sued individuals and businesses relentlessly for decades, never admitting guilt or fault even when judgements go against him. His immediate reaction to any loss is to appeal, and to carry those appeals to the highest possible court, using his time-honored strategy of Deny, Deflect, and Delay. His strategy of endless delays and appeals is intended to wear down his opponents, and proves the truth of the old adage that justice delayed is justice denied. And you can only imagine how much good could be done with the time, money, and energy expended on his frivolous lawfare.

It's no secret that I detest Der Furor and despise the class of lawyers willing to enable him and his like. If Der Furor is lawfare's commanding general, the divisions of amoral lawyers who conduct lawfare on his behalf are its foot soldiers.

And we are its collateral damage.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Some commentators suggested that the man be charged with "assault with a deli weapon."

P.S. - in case you're interested, the illustration I used in today's post was generated by my request to Chat GPT to draw me a picture of a weapon made out of the Constitution. I thought it was appropriate to the topic.

Cartoon Saturday, Special Edition

Cartoon Saturday is one of my longest-running theme posts, and ranks as the most popular by total number of readers and comments. I usually try to have a particular theme for the cartoons each week, drawing from the many thousands of cartoons in my collection, sorted by subject matter. 

By far, the largest folder in the collection is devoted to Der Furor, MAGA, and their assault on our history, values, national standing, and international image. Today, I'm running a special, out-of-cycle edition of Cartoon Saturday dedicated to Der Furor ... because it's good to laugh when you can't cry.

Let's begin with a classic summary of Der Furor's overall effect on our government and our lives ...

Der Furor is a master of using the law as a bludgeon against his enemies and a shield against personal accountability ...

Variations on the TACO presidency ...

The performance appraisal with the boss didn't go well ...

But ... but ... but her e-mails!! ...

'Ya think? ...

I tend to agree ...

It's easier to whisper sweet nothings in your beloved's ear in a big car with lots of privacy ...

The whining, sneering sound of the man's voice is the political equivalent of nails on a blackboard* - it's wonderful to be where you don't have to listen to it ...

It's not easy to be a translator in this administration ...

And that's it for this special edition of Cartoon Saturday. The cartoonists have an easy and critical job drawing attention to the most corrupt and incompetent administration in our history ... and given that the competition includes figures like James Buchanan and George W. Bush, that's saying something.

Have a good day and a good week. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* I understand that this allusion is probably lost on more recent generations of students. Too bad.

Poetry Sunday

If you think that's bad, how about this? ...

Coffee Cup Café

by Linda Hasselstrom

Soon as the morning chores are done,

cows milked, pigs fed, kids packed

off to school, it's down to the café

for more coffee and some soothing

conversation.

"If it don't rain pretty soon, I'm

just gonna dry up and blow away."

"Dry? This ain't dry. You don't know

how bad it can get. Why, in the Thirties

it didn't rain any more than this for

(breathless pause) six years."

"I heard Johnson's lost ninety head of calves

in that spring snowstorm. They

were calving and heading for home

at the same time and they just walked

away from them."

"Yeah and when the cows

got home, half of them died

of pneumonia."

"I ain't had any hay on me since that hail

last summer; wiped out my hay crop, all

my winter pasture, and then the drouth

this spring. Don't know what I'll do."

"Yeah, but this is nothing yet.

Why in the Thirties the grasshoppers came

like hail and left nothing green on the ground.

They ate fenceposts, even. And the dust, why

it was deep as last winter's snow drifts,

piled against the houses. It ain't bad here yet,

and when it does come, there won't be so many of us

having coffee."

So for an hour they cheer each other, each story

worse than the last, each face longer. You'd think

they'd throw themselves under their tractors

when they leave, but they're bouncy as a new calf,

caps tilted fiercely into the sun.

They feel better, now they know

somebody's having a harder time

and that men like them

can take it.

There's always someone having a worse day than you are, isn't there? And somehow, we all come through.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

As my dad would have said, if this week had been a fish, I'd have thrown it back ...

Not satisfied with flooding the streets of Washington with military and law enforcement personnel, Der Furor announced his plan to create a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” of hundreds of National Guard troops to quell potential civil unrest; Der Furor met ... unsuccessfully ... with his fellow autocrat, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska to discuss selling out Ukraine in pursuit of his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize; far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that plans for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank will "bury the idea of a Palestinian state ... because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize;" U.S. tourism officials say Congress’s controversial $250 "visa integrity fee" will deter international visitors, cost the country nearly $11 billion in lost visitor spending and tax revenue over the next three years, and not be refundable as claimed by its sponsors ... it's not clear from the article whether this is related to fees of $5,000 - $15,000 to be charged to visa applicants from certain countries; and in England, workers called in to remove a World War II-era bomb discovered under a children's playground discovered a long-buried cache of 176 other bombs.

This week, since Der Furor believes that life in every Democratic-controlled city in the United States - especially Washington, D.C. - is Hell on earth, how about a collection of cartoons about Hell and its punishments ...

It's hard to imagine a worse punishment for an expert in any field ...

 

The eternally junk mail-stuffed inbox ...

Ah, yes ... I'm sure this is what a lot of hardcore Christians are going to suffer ...

This is obviously how lawyers are tormented ...

Be sure to think the offer through carefully ...

No ... no, it's not ...

Your primary care doctor in hell may not have read the Hippocratic Oath ...

As the veteran of a lot of torturous meetings, I can see this being a hideous eternal torment ...

It's not exactly a cartoon, but it certainly brings The Inferno into the 21st century ...

I think this is where we'll end up if the bar for Der Furor's behavior keeps being lowered ...

And that's it for this week's devilish collection of cartoons - I hope that you've enjoyed them.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Poetry Sunday, when we look at comparative misery. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Tired of listening to Der Furor's rambling and nonsensical news conferences? Take a mental break by checking out this week's compilation of great moments!

Butt water?? (Thanks to Mike for finding this one) ...

The casual, hip spot for minor Arab potentates?

Somebody was not paying attention during grade school arithmetic lessons ...

When you're really desperate for something to be congratulated for ...

I think this was from the grab-and-go cafeteria on Epstein's Island ...

En garde! ...

It's usually more intimidating when it's actually alive ...

I think I'm going to order these for all the women in my family ...

Pork in pants, #1 ...

Pork in pants, #2 ...

And there you go! I hope this collection of editorial and signage ya-ha's has helped raise your spirits, in this time of bizarre governance.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, when we'll look at punishments of hell other than having to listen to Der Furor's whiningly sarcastic voice - more thoughts then.

Bilbo

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

If you're of my generation, you may recall this 1970 hit song by Lynn Anderson, "Rose Garden" ...

Speaking of rose gardens ...

The White House Rose Garden was first created by First Lady Edith Roosevelt in 1903 as a colonial-style garden, and various aspects of its design were changed over the years by various inhabitants of the White House. The plan with the large central grass lawn was created by Rachel Lambert Mellon in 1962 at the request of President Kennedy, and the latest redesign was undertaken by First Lady Melania Trump in 2020. 

The Rose Garden is in the news once again as Der Furor continues his makeover of the White House campus by paving over much of the existing garden. His stated reason is that the grass of the lawn area is easily damaged by foot traffic during events held in the Rose Garden, and that ladies' high-heels sink into the turf and create a tripping hazard. The actual reason, of course, is Der Furor's desire for an entertainment and event patio similar to the one on which he holds court at Mar-a-Lago - 

The makeover of the Rose Garden lawn was recently completed, and the patio area now looks like this* - 

You may notice a couple of things about this photo. First, there are no roses in evidence ... they're there, but the focus is on the paved expanse rather than the flowers. Second, the presidential seal appears at each corner. It is, of course, the president's patio, but making the seal a part of the decor seems to me to be a little gilding of the lily. And third, note that the drainage ports are in the shape of American flags - a probably-unintended allusion to the fact that, under the "leadership" of Der Furor and the GOP, the country is going down the drain.

Here's another view of the new patio**, with the new ice cream parlor-style tables and umbrellas in place - 

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather a rose garden highlight roses rather than pavement.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* The style has been called "Noveau Brutalism."

** Photo from CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins' Twitter post.